The Children of Xavier
by Cat 2
Summary: House of M fanfic. A New exterme Mutant group, The Children of Xavier threaten the House of M and all conected with it
1. The Children of M

Children of Xavier

Disclaimer: Marvel Entertainment owns everything, with the exception of Cat who is my own creation. This is a work of fanfic, no copyright infringement intended.

Author's note. This story takes place in the altered reality ruled by Magneto and the HOUSE OF M, created by the reality-warping powers of the Scarlet Witch. As such, the histories and affiliations of some characters may have changed significantly. This is really an alternative for the House of M reality and asks what would have happened had Wolverine been picked up by the Sentinels when with the Human Resistance movement as shown in House of M 4. It also offers an alternative to events shown in New X Men Academy X 16-19.

Part 1. Children of M

Noriko Ashida a.k.a. Surge fought the desire to remove the green rubber mask almost the second it hit her face. Despite the warnings from other Agents she was unprepared for the overwhelming claustrophobia that threatened to engulf her.

"Just breathe and it will pass" said a voice over the radio.

"I'm alright sir." Surge replied. Commander Cat of the Red Guard had bigger problems than some Hellion Agent who was panicking.

"No you're not!" the voice said, cool, calm and with the hint of a laugh in it. "You're currently feeling claustrophobic and angry because of that. Just breathe and it will pass. Trust me everyone feels the same way the first time they put it on."

"Thank you sir" Surge said. She then looked around to see if it was true. It was hard to tell though the eye holes in the mask as most of the face was hidden. It was true that everyone looked tenser than when she saw then around the base, but who didn't when they were flying off on a mission especially with their captain in sickbay?

Her eyes came to rest on Agent Kurt Darkholme a.k.a. Agent Nightcrawler. He was easily identifiable by his blue three fingered hands. His disapproval of his mother, agent Raven Darkholme a.k.a Mystique's relationship with Captain James Howlett and the long running feud between the two of them was legendary around SHIELD, despite attempts of various Red Guard Agents to keep it under wraps. But now he sat as tense as any one, his fingers running over a necklace of beads. Cat had noticed it too, for her voice came over the radio again.

"Hey Elf!" as the mask head was raised she continued: "Say an extra one for the success of our mission huh?"

As Kurt nodded and lowered his head, Cat smiled, glad that the mask hid her expression. He would be praying for his mother, for his sister, agent Anne Marie a.k.a Rogue, who sat with a poker back beside him; and for Rachel Summers, lady in waiting to Princess Elizabeth Braddock of England and Kurt's girlfriend. She knew that when Kurt had heard that Rachel would be in Britain he had hoped to get leave, but events had conspired against that. Firstly Human terrorist had attacked the New Mutant Leadership Institute. Secondly the Red Guard Captain James "Logan" Howlett had literally jumped ship, by jumping off the SHIELD Helicarrier. Thank god that had been sorted out. Logan was back, recovering in sickbay.

Mystique had thought that he had popped a brain stitch, but it had turned out that Logan's mutation, which could "heal" over traumatic events, had done so when a communication (source officially unknown) had come alerting them to the true nature of Project Genesis. It could have being sorted sooner, but with Cat absent (dealing with events in Germany) and Mystique relationship with Logan, Agent Jess Drew a.k.a Spiderwoman had been placed in charge. Jess had accidentally spooked Logan which caused him to run off, injuring several team mates in the process. Thankfully he had run in to the Human Resistance Movement and when they had crashed his tracker a Sentinel had picked him up, along with several member of the human resistance movement.

It had been a blessing in other ways as well. While the team had been searching for Logan Mystique had sent the Hellions, an elite SHIELD training squad, to Japan to deal with the terrorist strike on new mutant leadership. What they had been told was a waste recycling plant had turned out to be human experimentation plant. Surge was here as it was believed that the terrorist group had been led by her father. Because of this she had been left behind by Agent Moonstar who was in charge of the Hellions. Agent Moonstar had attempted to get Surge to lead the Hellions to the Terrorists, but this plan had backfired when Surge had got into a fight with SHIELD interrogators. She and David Alleyne had hacked into SHIELD computers to find out exactly what they were up against, and had alerted a team, if it could be called that, of students from the New Mutant Leadership institute. However due to injuries received in her fight with the interrogators, it had been deemed unsafe for Surge and David to go with them. While they attempted to find out more about Project Genesis, they had been attacked by Dr Garrison, before they were rescued by the Red Guard. They had been looking for evidence to connect him with the attack on the New Mutant Leadership Institute and with Quentin Quire suicide, while the other New Mutants had gone to Japan to deal with the threat. They had alerted the Red Guard to situation, although Garrison had escaped.

She owed Fury big time for the information he had sent her. Not bad for a dead man.

She forced her mind away from her musings and examined the rest of her team. Rogue was the least affected by the masks if her scent was anything to go by, but as her powers required her to remain completely covered at all times that wasn't surprising.

Mortimer Toynbee a.k.a Toad was the most affected, as it would render his most forceful power, his long tongue useless. He also was less than happy about her plan.

Sage sat opposite Toad, her usual ice maiden stance apparently unaffected, but to those who knew her well it was evident that she was very tense.

Almost as tense as Maverick who sat next to her. He, like Toad, was less than happy with her plan. He had lost his hearing in circumstances similar to this, and that combined with the masks that they all had to wear, meaning that instead of lip-reading as he usually did, he would have to rely on Sage's telepathy, which he hated, left him as tense as a Cat on a hot tin roof.

Her glance moved to the two figures sitting apart from the rest. She signed.

While she and Mystique held the same rank on paper, Cat's years of field experience during the mutant human war had led to her being appointed second in command of the Red Guard. This meant that Wolverine's absence she was in charge and responsible for everyone here.

"Hey Mystique, Spiderwoman!" she said. When she had their attention she continued. "Quit beating yourselves up! You acted as best you could with the intelligence available at the time, Mystique! And you Jess you handled a difficult situation to the best of your ability! Don't beat yourselves up, that's what we've got Shaw for!"

It was a weak joke, but it still raised a slight laugh from group.

"O.k. everyone clear on the plan?" she asked as the voice over the radio informed her that they were nearing Japan. Various responses came over the radio, most of them uncertain.

"Right. We have two objectives. One rescue the Hellions and civilians from the New Mutant Leadership. Two shut down Project Genesis and prevent it from being restarted. Our part is mainly the rescue of the Hellions and civilians.

"We will do this in two parts. First of all Nightcrawler will teleport in and set off that." She pointed to a small black box looking object with wires protruding from it.

"That the part I have a problem with" Toads voice came over the radio. "As I understand it, that bomb will neutralise their powers."

"Temporarily"

"Where on earth did you get hold of it?" Toad asked, well aware that such things were now illegal.

"SHIELD. Left over from the Mutant Human War. Amazing what you can find if you know where to look."

Toad's response was thankfully too low to be picked up by the radio.

"When the bomb has gone off, we will move in and secure Laurie Garrison. Expect heavy resistance. It's probable that both the Hellions and the New Mutants are under her control. You've all read the Hellions files? And the report from the New Mutant leadership?"

They all nodded.

"Remember where the New Mutants are concerned we only have a rough idea of their powers so be prepared for anything. Laurie Garrison powers we know are Pheromones which can be used to control your emotional state. The mask will definitely protect you from the bomb and should protect you from the pheromones. However if you feel any unexplained emotions, ANY! Set off your distress signal and we'll yank you out. SHIELD telepaths will be monitoring you and if they pick up any thing unusually they'll yank you out. SHIELD agents stationed in Japan will be dealing with Genesis, but we're back up. Any questions?"

"What about Laurie's' father?" David Alleyne asked nervously. As a civilian from the New Mutant leadership Institute he shouldn't have even been here. He was only here with Cat's expressed permission and knew that he really shouldn't question her. But he had to know.

"SHIELD agents are picking him up as we speak." Cat replied. She turned to Sage. "Commence count down."

"T-10, T-9, T-8" Sage's smooth voice came over the radio. Surge tensed and prepared herself. This was it. It might be her last SHIELD mission.

"We'll discuss your feelings towards SHIELD after this." Cat's voice interrupted the count down in her radio.

"T-2, T-1, Go."

Nightcrawler vanished in a puff of smoke and the stench of brimstone and sulphur, like the demon he resembled. Two seconds later the Helicarrier vanished as the teleporter removed them.

If Noriko was honest she remembered very little of the battle. She had vague memories of seeing SHIELD Red Guard's in combat with Hellions and New Mutants. That was before she saw Synch approaching her. He was intimating Maverick's power. There was a brief flash of light then darkness.

David was beside her when she came round.

"Hey" he said gently, then with more force, "no! No! The doctor said you should stay still-"

Surge couldn't help but gasp as the pain of what she suspected were broken ribs hit her.

"When" a voice demanded "is listening to medics going to be included in SHIELD training?"

"Hasn't been for sixty years and isn't likely they'll add it now Michael." Cat said, coming around the curtains that surrounded the bed. Surge now realised where she was. The SHIELD infirmary on the Helicarrier.

Doctor Michael Twoyoungmen nodded. He then rounded on Cat.

"And you! You should be setting a good example, not just for your team, but for the Hellions too! Those starches were pretty deep and, while you may have a healing factor, there is no way anyone could have-"

"I am setting a good example for the Hellions!" Cat interrupted. "I am showing them how a good leader behaves, by checking up on all who were under my command."

She then glanced over Surge and with a nod at David and Michael left.

Cat slowly walked though the jumble of beds that made up the Helicarrier's infirmary. It was not stretched to it's maximum by any mean, but the variety and nature of the injuries were providing them with difficulties. Now again she saw those who she knew either from the fight or from around base. The Chinese American Jubilee having her leg wrapped in plaster. The Islamic Dust, a bandage acting as her headscarf. Moonstar, her right arm swathed in bandages. Little Magik sitting as though she was carved from stone, recovering from Sage's telepathic bolts.

Her own team was visible too. Jess Drew sat having her eye irrigated after close contact with Dust's sandstorm. She smiled slightly at Cat but it was oblivious that she was busy.

Toad had been hit by some of Jubilee's "fireworks" and so was covered in orange goo to help with the healing process. Cat had to look away to stop herself laughing as he would have look like an orange toad, except that where his mask had been was still skin coloured, making him resemble a bizarre lion toad cross.

Kurt had come off the lightest with out even a starch but he still sat here beside Rogue who was waiting for the power she had absorbed from Laurie Garrison, now along with her father safely in SHIELD custody, to wear off. She was sitting perfectly still and breathing to keep herself calm. Mystique lay near them, out cold after a run in with a Stepford Cuckoo.

Maverick and Sage had escaped with only minor cuts and bruises, but were being kept in for observation.

Ignoring the dirty look Dr Michael threw her, Cat wandered out of the Medical facility and down the corridors to the interview room.

Wolverine was standing there, gazing though the glass at the young woman who was been interrogated. He gave no sign that he knew she had entered and for a while they both stood in silence staring though the glass.

"You did good today Cat." Wolverine said, his eye never leaving the scene before them. Cat nodded

"We've definitely got enough to convict her of the murder of Quentin Quire, and the attempted murder of David Alleyne and Noriko Ashida. That's before we even start on attacking SHIELD agents, connections with Project Genesis and impersonating a SHIELD agent. We can get him on falsifying records and sexually abusing his daughter and disobeying directs orders."

Wolverine nodded.

"You can come out now kid" he added.

Surge stepped nervously from the shadows. "I ummm"

"You wanted to make sure that they were treating Laurie Garrison alright" Cat said gently. "Relax. On Shaw's order she is not to be harmed. That's following recommendation from the captain of the Team who brought her in." she smiled. "Come on. I'd better take you back to the infirmary before Michael really has my guts."

Placing an arm on Surge's she gently guided her out of the room and along the corridor.

"You've got a lot of potential as agent" Cat observed as they walked "we'll be sorry to lose you if you're serious about leaving." As they neared the infirmary she turned to face her. "Just remember Honey, it's easier to affect change from the inside than from the out."

Northstar was standing outside the infirmary looking around nervously.

"It's alright Northstar." Cat said jokily. "I've found your runaway."

She slowly and careful guided the girl towards Northstar.

"Umm sir." Surge began, nervously "bout my application to resign. I'd…I'd like to withdraw it. For now!" she added quickly. Cat shot her a grateful smile and slowly walked back down the corridor.

The interrogating was continuing. The questions were the same. Why had she done it? Was it her father, had he been controlling her? At last Laurie patience snapped.

"You are pathetic!" she spat. "You have no idea what is necessary to keep Lord Magnus's dream alive. I am a Child of Xavier. I will not let Sapiens and Blood traitors destroy what we have worked for. The Children of Xavier will rule!"

To be continued


	2. They are the bombs

Disclaimer: Marvel Entertainment owns everything, with the exception of Cat who is my own creation. This is a work of fanfic, no copyright infringement intended.

Part 2 "They are the bombs"

Cat reached into her locker and withdrew a light green evening dress. She yanked it on over her head and adjusted the sleeves. She smiled at her reflection in the mirror.

"Not bad for a 76 year old." She observed to her reflection as she reached back into the depths of the locker and with drew a brush and a make up bag.

She made her way back towards the showers, where sinks and mirrors were suspended. She was not the first one there by any means. Every sink had one or two Red Guard or Hellion agents there. They were all preparing for the same thing. The gala that was to be held that night to celebrate Pietro's and Wanda's birthday. Cat edged in between Mystique and Moonstar, who were both fussing with their hair. Mystique had no need for this as her powers allowed her to change her appearance at will, so Cat could only presume that she wanted to be with the rest of her team, or that she wanted to apologise to Moonstar for putting her agents in danger.

Moonstar lifted her head as Cat edged in. She was wearing a turquoise evening dress, that very few could have pulled off. She spoke to Cat almost as quickly as Surge did when using her power.

"Cat I just want to thank you again for asking the Hellions to help with this event. It's just the morale boost that's needed."

Cat shrugged. She knew in the month since the collapse of Project Genesis, the Hellions had found it hard to get missions. SHIELD command had heard about their fight with the Red Guard; the ease with which Quill had been controlled by a telepath; their fight with the New Mutants and their co-operation with Human resistance terrorist; and had been reluctant to trust them.

"No problem. We needed an extra agent for the evening anyway. It's going to be very boring I'm afraid."

Moonstar shrugged. "It's still a mission."

Cat had no desire to disillusion Moonstar, so she said nothing for a few minutes. She then in a low voice asked

"How is your team?"

Moonstar shrugged. "We're holding ourselves together, but this mission will help morale no end."

"It's going to be a good event." Sofia a.k.a Wind Dancer said, leaning in to do her lipstick. "Everyone going to be there. Magneto, Quicksilver, Polaris, Wanda Maximoff"

Cat smiled at the fact that prejudices prevented Lady Wanda being called by her correct title.

"Wonder Man, Captain Marvel-"

"Yeah!" Cat said leaning in to do her own lipstick. "It will be good o see Carol again."

"Who?" the Hellion and the Agent asked.

"Carol Danvers. Captain Marvel."

"You know her?" more voices joined in all surprised.

"Yeah. She was a SHIELD agent in the Mutant Human war, same as Wolverine and me."

"What was she like?" Sofia asked excited.

"Ok. Not one of the ones who beat us up. Too young to be one of the ones who spoke up for us though."

Sofia nodded. She then stopped as a thought occurred to her.

"Where do we put our guns?"

Cat smiled. "SHIELD design Look about the waist, that tends to be where they put them."

Sofia felt around the waist of her dress and finding a pocket, placed her gun in the holster concealed there.

"Come on!" Cat said, finishing her make up and shoving her bag back in her locker "we'd best hurry if you want to make the briefing.

A large, 3D plan of the royal palace of Genosha was holographically projected in the middle of the table. Captain James "Logan" Howlett, a.k.a Wolverine was explaining SHIELD positioning.

"OK Spider Woman and Toad, you're in the kitchen. No body who shouldn't gets in or out. And nothing extra is added to the food. Agents Nightcrawler and Rogue, you're patrolling the stairs and the landing. It's where most of the royal family will be parading down from and guests will be up and down there all evening. Look out for any one acting suspiciously and check everyone's invites, before they leave the landing. Any doubts contact palace security and they'll take it from there. They're also responsible for security of the grounds with bout half a dozen Marines units.

"Agents Cat and Moonstar, you will the patrol the East side of the ballroom, Mystique and I will handle the west.

"Agents Sage and Maverick, you two are responsible for the protection of the generator. It's the most likely place for an attack, so one of you is to report in personally every hour, alternating it. Hellions, you have been given who you report to, but I will review it for the benefit of everyone."

He paused and consulted a file by him.

"Agent Scion, you will be reporting to me and Agent Mystique. Agent Wind Dancer, you will be reporting to Agents Nightcrawler and Rogue. Agent Surge you are reporting to Agents Cat and Moonstar along with Agent Quill. Agent Synch will report to Agents Toad and Spider woman. Agent Magik, you are reporting to Maverick and Sage."

The Hellions preened themselves at been addressed as agents.

"Hellions, you will report in by radio, every hour. Any questions?"

There were none.

"Ok let's do it."

It was about the 3rd time that Maverick reported in that a wave of panic gripped her. There was nothing to cause it. The evening had gone well and quietly, with only a minor incident when Nightcrawler snubbed Warren Worthington III, but after the incident in Wakanda that was only to be expected.

Yet sudden blind, terror gripped her. She fought to keep it from her face, but she surrounded by those who knew her best, Wolverine and Maverick.

"Cat what's wrong?" Maverick asked, concern ringing in every syllable.

She swallowed. "Something is about to happen" she said as calmly as she could "something very bad."

She couldn't have been more definite had she been asked, but Wolverine, thanks to over 60 years of friendship, didn't ask.

"Agents Report!" he bellowed into the communicator.

One by one they all reported in, first the Red Guard, then the Hellions. The Red Guards were nervous; afraid they had missed something and were in trouble. The Hellions were slightly annoyed, believing that Wolverine was checking up on them. No one reported anything unusual.

It was while Cat was digesting this, that she lifted her head and saw the boy enter the room. He had just come in though the French windows and was walking though the room, unnoticed by the other guests , despite the fact that he was wearing jeans, a dark blue jacket and a baseball cap instead of formal dress. Cat couldn't give a reason; she just knew that this, the young boy, was the source of her fear.

"Wolverine" she said into her communicator, as she edged forward "get the Hellions out of here now!"

She was vaguely aware of instructions being issued as she approached the boy. He raised his head and saw her. Then she realised that this was a mistake. But it was too late. Even as she began to scream a wave of pure kinetic energy it her. The world went black.

The hospital was in chaos. While details were still sketchy, it was clear that someone had set off a bomb at the house of M gala to celebrate Quicksilver's and Lady Wanda's birthday. Cat lay still on one of the trolleys provided, trying not to move as it felt like everything hurt. She tried to remember the old SHIELD maximum that pain was good, pain means that you're still alive and you can still kill guy who did this to you!

Colonel Sebastian Shaw, director of SHIELD had already been in to receive her version of events. He hadn't been too impressed, her description of the bomber he dismissed as worthless, that he had telepathic abilities that rendered him invisible to all but the SHIELD agents with their scramblers, he snorted obliviously, however when she mentioned that she had seen no bombs or detonation devices he turned pale.

"But that sounds like that he was…one of us" noticing the confused look on Cat's face he continued, "a mutant"

Cat shrugged, and then stopped as it made her shoulder hurt. To her the idea of mutant terrorism wasn't disturbing, but she knew that Shaw would.

"With respect sir, mutants have been known to process terrorist fractions for years" she gave a slight laugh. "It would appear that Bucky was right when he said "these Mutants don't plant bombs, they are the bombs!" Shaw probably thought that she was hysterical or still in a state of shock, as he left her alone after that.

She felt beside the pain, a degree of restlessness, as though what had happened was about to be explained.

She lay back, trying to boost her healing factor and gazed up at the television suspended above the chaos. Suddenly the screen went like a swarm of bee and when it cleared a young man stood there.

He was dressed in yellow and black, with a mask covering his face and was about 16 years old by his build and voice as he spoke.

"Mutants! Hear us. What you saw today was just the beginning. We must save mutants from those race traitors within us who would that we breed and "co-exist" with the creatures that fear and hate us. We are Homo Superior. We are the Children of Xavier. We will prevail!" he lifted his arms so that they formed an X across his face, that matched the X on his belt.

The screen flicked back to the original channel. But no was watching it. Everyone sat in silence.

Wolverine who lay next to the unconscious Mystique, healing, glanced at Cat. To his amazement she was sitting up with a thoughtful expression on her face.

"Xavier" she muttered. "Now where have I heard that before?"

To be continued


	3. Havok

Disclaimer: Marvel Entertainment owns everything, with the exception of Cat who is my own creation. This is a work of fanfic, no copyright infringement intended.

Author's note: the idea for this story came from another House of M fanfic, _A Cry In The Night _by Hunter Lambright, which can be found at the idea for the crime described came from an excellent film called _The Night Of The Generals_, but I don't know who owns it. If any one does know and could let me know I'd be very grateful. Reviews are also VERY welcome.

Part 3 Havok

Alex summers had been a hero, leader of Lord Magnus's army, decorated a thousand times for his courage and bravery in battle. Had been. Now he crouched in the kitchen of a disused house.

He'd been so stupid! Magneto had lived too long and survived too much not to have a way of dealing with meddlers!

That had been what led him to be here now. He'd found out about something, someone, in Magneto past. He'd tried to blackmail Magneto to let him continue to see Lorna.

Lorna. He loved her. Loved her emerald green hair, loved her eyes that laughed even when she didn't. God he loved her. But she's hate him now, just like every one else did. Her eyes wouldn't laugh, they'd cry. She'd think that they told the truth.

Frank Sherborne. He'd been under Alex's command, and if Alex was honest he hadn't liked the man. Thought him too quick to anger, he pulled him away from a fair few fights in his time. Least they'd accepted that his death must have been self defence.

But he hadn't killed him, or his wife and kid!

They claimed that he'd been having an affair with Harriet, that her son was his. That when Frank found out about it, that he'd invited Alex over and confronted him. That to protect his relationship with Polaris, Alex had used his powers to kill him and his family.

That was why they set the Marauders on him. He'd only heard of them though rumours till now. They were dispatched to capture the most dangerous mutants. Their record for capture was good; their record of bringing suspects to trial was poor.

He's kept ahead of them for nearly 3 weeks. He'd been in Special Ops and had made use of all that it had taught him. He could have kept ahead of them indefinitely if he hadn't had a run in with one of them. Plague.

He'd heard of her, before this. Beside her work with the Marauders, she also had links Apocalypse, had been one of his housemen. He'd met her briefly when he'd done some work in Egypt, where Apocalypse ruled.

She'd only touched him for a few seconds, but it had been enough.

He now felt weak and tired for most of the time. The little food he could gather from raids, he tended to throw up and he knew he was feverish.

The sound of breaking glass grabbed his attention. Was it them? Or just some of the local kids messing around? It didn't matter. Either way he had to get out of here.

He got slowly to his feet and got ready to run. At the same time one of the Marauders charged into the room. Alex did even stop to think. He merely raised his arm and fired a blast of plasma at him.

He then ran out of the room, firing two more blasts at the guys in the next room. It occurred to him that he had no idea how many there were. If Apocalypse had been willing to loan them a horseman, then who else might have also given help?

It didn't matter he decided. If he was going down, he'd take as many of them as possible with him!

This it seemed was unnecessary. There was no one in the hall or outside the house. He could only presume that they reckon he'd be weak enough to take down with only half a team. Or may be there'd been something else that required their attention. While he was sorry for the mutant whoever he or she was, he couldn't help been glad.

He stopped under the cover of some trees, fighting for breath. It was when He lifted his hand to wipe his forehead that he noticed that the sleeve was torn.

Plague. He could see the black boils on his arm, just like last time. He hadn't even seen her but it didn't matter. His contact with her might have only been for a few seconds, but it was enough.

He lifted his head and glanced towards Genosha. Lorna was there, in Magneto palace. In a few days they'd be holding a party, partly to celebrate her birthday and partly shown the terrorists, both human and mutant, that they weren't winning.

He'd head that way. Least that way he'd see her again. One last time.

"URH!" cat declared, pushing the keyboard away from her.

"No luck then?" Mystique said, slipping her coffee.

"I've tried every file, every sub file, every directory in every one of SHIELDs computers And I Still Can't Find It! even with Shaw's clearance code." She shook her head in despair and glance up as the door opened to admit Nightcrawler and Rogue.

"Please tell me you've have a better day"

Nightcrawler, a.ka. Kurt Darkholme shook his head.

"Nien"

"Don't suppose ya'll could be more definite bout where ya heard it?" Rogue a.k.a Anne Marie asked.

Cat shook her head. "I know I heard the name around SHIELD, during the Mutant Human War, but more than that…" she sighed. "The more I try and remember it the vaguer it gets. I'm all most certain that it had a connection with Magneto, Lord Magnus I mean."

The door opened again to admit Sage.

"The files in question," She said, gliding over to the table. "have not only been removed. Every bite of every byte has been deleted, and the disk descrambled. Someone clearly does not want us to know who Xavier is or was."

"The Children of Xavier killed over 5000 people in 20 separate Co-ordinated attacks world wide. This isn't some piddling human resistance group that can be handled because we know who's involved and what they're fighting for!"

Breathing deeply she turned to their commanding officer, Captain James "Logan" Howlett a.k.a Wolverine, who had remained silent during the exchange.

"Any thing else on the cards Wolvs? We've been at this for three days straight and we're no further forward than we were after the attack"

Wolverine shrugged. "The Sherborne case or the insult of security arrangements for Polaris's Birthday"

"I vote for Polaris's birthday. Fewer toes to tread on and I don't like the Sherborne case"

"Why not?" Jess Drew a.k.a Spiderwoman pouring a cup of coffee. "Sour" she added at the sniff of milk from the carton.

"It's …to neat I guess. The guy had a loud and public argument with the victim a few days before his death. His prints are on a brandy glass, which is smashed to pieces, in the house, not far from the guy's body. His dog tags are found grasped in the dead woman's hands, so tightly that they only find them in the post mortem. His commander swears that he was absent that night." She sighed and shook her head. "It's reminds me too much of a case I was involved in during the war. That was a set up. Anyway" she said, informing them by her tone that the subject was closed. "I presume we're going for similar arrangements for tonight's bash as for the Quicksilver and Wanda's bash"

Wolverine nodded. "Full uniform though and we won't be alone this time, everyone who can be spared will be there. There're one or two other changes as well"

The Red Guard leaned in closer and as it would turn out unwisely put the Sherborne case out of their minds.

There it was, Hammer Bay, capital of Genosha. The palace was visible, clearly against the black sky. He wait till it was properly dark, there was more chance of reaching the palace unseen. Getting in wouldn't be a problem, he done it enough time. It had always amused Lorna when he'd done that. She'd called him her Romeo, climbing though the Xavier Memorial garden, up a vine to her balcony, tapping on the window until she open the window. She'd laughed declaring that he must be mad the first time he'd done it. But she'd got use to it. It had been the only way they could see each other.

He'd been an idiot. One night he'd stayed later than he should have. They been discovered in, what divorce lawyers would call a compromising position.

Lord Magnus had been furious. He'd been yelling, flinging objects around with his powers, calling Alex all sorts of terrible things, getting him so mad that he'd blurted out what he knew. What his commander, a veteran of the Mutant Human War, had told him, one night when he'd been drunk.

The next day Frank Sherborne had died and the Marauders had been after him.

He doubled up as another coughing fit hit him. A splattering of blood was visible on the back of his hand in the moonlight. He'd got worse in the last few days and he knew it.

He could, he would still reach the palace in time to see Lorna. He Had To.

The Marauders did not like SHIELD. SHIELD did not like the Marauders. The Marauders viewed SHIELD as jumped up policemen. SHIELD viewed the Marauders as Killers for hire. As a result when Callisto and her second in command Caliban came to meet with the Red Guard Commanders, Agent Wolverine and Agent Cat, you could cut the tension with a knife.

"Your people can come up to the gate, there's nothing I can do about that, but you ain't going no further!"

"With respect Captain Howlett, I don't think that you realise the seriousness of the situation. Alex Summers, a.k.a Havok, is a powerful mutant and possible mentally unstable. If you had seen the bodies of the people he killed-"

"Is alleged to have killed," Cat interrupted. "Or did I miss the memo on the end of presumption of innocence for Marauders?"

If Callisto could kill with Looks, Cat would have dropped dead.

"Be that as it may he has attacked with the intent to kill myself and two of my agents-"

"Probably just returning a favour" Wolverine growled. "You're killers, pure and simple especially that Plague"

"Takes one to know one" Caliban relied, stung.

Cat moved fast, but Wolverine was a fraction of a second faster. Two of the three claws on his right hand were extended and they lifted Caliban off the ground.

"I've been more than reasonable with you" he growled. "Now get out, before I do something you'll regret"

Callisto and Caliban began to retreat.

"Oh and Callisto" Wolverine called after then. "I've given my guys orders to shoot to kill any one who tries to enter the Palace with out an invitation, and I don't care who they're carrying orders from."

Callisto and Caliban took the hint and were gone.

Lorna Davis a.k.a Polaris yanked the indigo dress over her head and pulled on the emerald green cape. She sat down at her dressing table and began to brush her green hair. Her father only asked one thing from his children, that they shine, and she would do that tonight, even though she felt like crying.

Alex…getting up she wandered over to the window and, stepping out on to the balcony, she gazed into the gathering dusk.

"Where fore art thou Alex?" she muttered to the night.

"Are you out there hiding believing that I hate you? Alex's that's impossible. I love you!"

She thought back to the first time she'd met him. It had been when he was summoned to receive the Mutant cross. She had been sent to fetch him.

"Captain Summers?" she had called, knocking on the door.

"Come in. Doors not locked." He had replied. "I'm in the shower, if you can just give me two secs." He had continued. She had stood, patiently until he emerged, naked except for a towel.

"Oh!" he said. "Excuse me. I wasn't…I mean…you're beautiful!"

"Thank you. Now Captain Summers-"

"Please" he had interrupted "Alex or Havok if you prefer."  
" I will stick with Captain Summers. Thank you."  
Everyone else she had known had treated her as Magnus's daughter, Alex had treated her as a woman, a woman who he could seduce. She had liked that and liked that even once he found out who she was he hadn't treated her any differently. They had become lovers a few weeks later. That had been nearly 3 years ago.

"Alex I love you. If you're out there _PLEASE _give me a sign."

A knock on the door brought her back. She was half convinced that this was the sign she was hoping for and threw the door open.

Quicksilver, her half brother stood in the door.

"You ready?" he asked oblivious to the expression on Polaris face.

Lorna turned her face to hide he rears. She gathered her courage before replying.

"Yes I'm ready."

"Seems to be going well." Rogue observed sidling up to where Cat and Wolverine stood.

"It's when things appear to be going well that you have to most ready for trouble." Wolverine snarled.

"Relax" Cat said. "Everything's going to be OK. You might," she added "warn Mystique to be more careful. I observed her shape shifting twice in the last ten minutes and I'm pretty sure that Shaw did too."

Wolverine nodded.

Agent Sitwell to Agent Wolverine" the voice came clearly though communicators into all their ears.

"Wolverine here."

"Trouble down here. The Marauders are here, demanding admittance. We need back up."

Wolverine swore.

"Go." Cat said with a smile. "I can handle things up here."

Wolverine nodded and left. It was about 5 minutes later that the shouting began.

It seemed to Alex that SHIELD Came out of nowhere. Suddenly within the sea of greens, purples, golds, reds and blacks, there were metallic legs, with black white and red uniforms. Guns were pointed at him and voices reached him as though a thick fog.

"SHIELD Command this is Red Guard Agent Darkholme. We have Alex Summers. Request back up to secure him."  
" Guy doesn't seem to be armed."  
"Don't get too close Drew. I thought you'd learnt your lesson from the last time"

"He doesn't look too good."

"Yes Wolverine, we like some help, so long as it's not the Marauders."  
"Please" he muttered "don't shoot"  
" He's still alive"

"Hold your positions!"

"Alex" Lorna voice. He tried to get up, but his arms wouldn't support him.

"Don't move a muscle else we'll shoot!" the warning came from the blue woman.

"Please," he muttered. "I'm dying"

"Too bad" this was from the second blue figure.

"Sage get a med team down here."

"Please, "if he wanted to have chance to stay alive he'd have to tell them. " Xavier" it was too late he sunk down into the blackness that waited him.

"Sage where the hell is that Med team?"

"You can't be serious" this was from the woman with black hair.

"Jess if he's telling he truth, we're in no position to disguard any help we can get. Sage where is Med team?"

"On their way sir" Sage murmured as she relayed the information to SHIELD Command.

To be continued


End file.
